


Magical Moment

by AlwaysMyChoices



Category: The Royal Romance (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Forbidden Love, Friendship, Gen, Love Triangles, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 23:27:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23195506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlwaysMyChoices/pseuds/AlwaysMyChoices
Summary: Long before Collins Alexander married Liam, she was Drake's friend, and as she teaches him to dance for the engagement tour, Drake wishes she could have been more.
Relationships: Drake Walker & Main Character (The Royal Romance), Drake Walker/Main Character (The Royal Romance), Liam & Main Character (The Royal Romance), Liam (The Royal Romance)/Original Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 9





	Magical Moment

“Never mind, this is ridiculous. If I haven’t learned by now, I’ll never learn,” Drake grumbled, his dance steps seeming even clumsier on the rocky path as he stepped away from Collins.

“It’s hardly been five minutes, Drake,” Collins was laughing at him- the good-natured kind that he’d only heard from Liam in his childhood. It reminded him of the last time he tried to learn to dance. He’d been smitten by some noble girl and was eager to learn something so he could ask her to dance. When he stepped on the dance floor, he could still hear their taunts at his failure, and the memory crashed into him with paralyzing force. He couldn’t do it.

“I grew up watching these dances, Alexander,” Drake avoided her emerald green stare. He knew that he would be lost the moment he did. He could never really say no to her.

“Drake…” Collins’ voice was so soft that Drake’s cold exterior began to melt, “I get it. A few months ago, I was on the outside, too. These dances may seem silly, but for people like us, they mean something. Let me help you.”

Resolve waning, Drake tore his gaze from the crackling fire nearby and found her stare. He’d never seen anything quite like what he saw in her that night- pure compassion yet equality in her gaze. She wanted to help but never looked down on him for it. Her offer was pure and based on friendship and affection, not a nefarious motive.

Drake suddenly understood why Collins was so easy to fall in love with. It wasn’t that she was beautiful- though damn, she was- or that she was simply different from Cordonian women. It was her sincerity. It was the way her smile always met her eyes. It was that she was about to become Queen of Cordonia and was giving a commoner dance lessons in the middle of a ball.

“Fine,” Drake’s voice was drenched in feigned annoyance, though he knew that she saw through it by the sparkle in her eyes. An adorable grin stretching across her face, she raised her arms once more and waited for him to resume the starting position.

The lesson was hardly fun. At moments, it was infuriating while at others it was exhaustingly tedious. But Collins made it better. She laughed when he clumsily stepped on her feet or made a misstep, and she distracted him from his failings with reassurance and praise.

She fit into his arms so well… The realization startled Drake and prompted a questioning smile from Collins.

“Everything okay?” she prompted, biting her lower lip as they continued their box step.

“Yeah, of course. Thinking about the dance,” Drake lied, darting his eyes away from hers.

Collins cocked an eyebrow, disbelief written on her face, but she let him get away with it. “Beautiful night?” she asked, politely calling him out for his frequent staring at the moon instead of her.

“Very…” Drake answered absently.

Drake wanted to be absent at this moment. He didn’t want to think too hard about it or survey the implications of everything it may or may not have meant. He was perched on the edge of something beautiful yet dangerous. The road he’d taken was treacherous. Each second he spent with Collins was another moment sacrificed to a ticking time bomb. He didn’t know if he could always trust himself around her…

The right answer was to leave. It was to end the dance lesson and stay the hell away from Collins Alexander. It was the honorable thing to do for everyone involved. If he did that, nobody would get her. Nobody except for him, at least.

Yet, he kept doing the wrong thing. He kept taking the risk and talking to her. Watching her smile and making her laugh. He could feel his attachment grow with every passing conversation. He was the man for the moments in between, but Collins was never really his.

But… this moment was magical.

Beneath the star-lit sky, they were just two people. She wasn’t madly in love with another man, and he wasn’t bound by friendship to stay away from her. In Drake’s mind, a whole lifetime like this played out. They’d met without Liam’s involvement, exploring the connection they both denied. They married, had a family, and danced under the stars… But the life was just a dream.

“If only my mom could see me now,” Collins laughed, shaking her head as she added, “She would have insisted I actually finish all those dance lessons.”

Drake smiled, “Little Collins in ballet shoes?”

“I was a great ballerina!” Collins insisted, her chuckling growing louder, and the sound warmed his heart, “I just didn’t like everyone else making the routines for me. I thought I should show myself as a true artist.”

Drake nodded solemnly, playing along with her serious tone, “Of course. How could anyone mess with your artistic vision?”

Collins couldn’t stop laughing through, throwing herself into his chest as she attempted to quell the giggles forming in her body. She slowly calmed herself, still beaming up at him, and Drake wished he could have stomped time and spent the rest of his life like this.

“Really though…” Collins began to talk again. It was always so easy to talk to Drake, though she could never really decide why, “Ballroom dancing classes made me cringe. I took them when I was thirteen, so I was about a head taller than every boy there. I practically had to squat just to complete the twirl!” Collins was trying to make him more comfortable, but the intimate details of her life only furthered the conflict brewing inside of him.

“I’m sure they were all in love with you,” Drake’s words were so tender that he felt the surprise in Collins’s posture. A blush crept across her cheeks as she glanced down and pretended to be preoccupied with the placement of their feet in the waltz.

“Ready for the spin?” Collins asked, a smile perking at her lips. Drake knew from watching her on the dance floor that this was her favorite part of the waltz. Even the most unfortunate dance partner could earn a smile from Collins with the proper spin, and Drake felt a swell of pride insist that he be the best. He wanted to be the one who made her smile.

Maybe one day she’d smile at him the way she smiled at Liam.

Drake executed the following dance moves flawlessly, earning an impressed grin from his dance partner and a gush of surprise. She surrendered to his lead, and he saw the enjoyment on her face. As if her smile egged him on, he ended with a flourish of a dip, and though fits of proud laughter, Collins clapped for him.

“That was amazing, Drake!”

“I aim to please,” Drake’s eyes were locked on hers, her chest now against his as she leaned up out of the dip, and the opportunity was right there.

He just had to lean in… He just had to kiss her.

But he didn’t.

He wasn’t born a noble, but that didn’t stop him from his undying sense of nobility. He couldn’t do that to her or to Liam. So, he faked a smile and stepped away from her.

“I’m so proud of you, Drake. I knew you could do it,” Collins pushed her hair behind her ear, her large engagement ring glittering in the moonlight, and his stomach dropped to his feet.

He could never get used to seeing that and knowing she was really engaged. Collins Alexander would be married within a month to his best friend, the most amazing man Drake knew and the only one worthy of becoming her husband. Collins wasn’t the girl he met in New York. She was going to be a queen.

And Drake and Collins weren’t going to have a happy ending.

She wouldn’t call off the wedding, proclaiming her love in dramatic fashion and asking Drake to throw caution to the wind for her. She wouldn’t give all of this up for a chance with him. She would always care for Drake, but she would never love him like he loved her.

Collins Alexander was the woman of his dreams, and she was in love with his best friend.

“We should probably get back to the ball,” Drake forced the words from his tongue, watching with sadness as Collins agreed.

As the pair walked back to the ballroom, Drake tried to hold on to the magical moment beneath the stars, but truly, his time had passed a long time ago…


End file.
